Cliffski's Blog - Kickstarting inequality.Kickstarter is the absolute poster-child for inequality amongst gamers, based on income. Now I am definitely not a raging socialist, but I know a lot of gamers are, and I find it a bit weird that it doesn’t bug them that when these kickstarter games ship, not only will gamers with more money that them be swanning around with better outfits and weapons, (This already happens in F2P games), but some of the NPC’s will have the names of the ‘wealthy’ backers. Some will even have their digitized faces in the game. Elite is actually naming PLANETS after people who back the game with a lot of money.

Gamers say they hate in-game product placement and advertising. It compromises the game design for the sake of money. I agree. So why are we deciding that the best way to name our planets or design the appearance of our NPC’s is to put that part of game design up for auction? Why should gamers who are wealthy get more influence over a game that those who flip burgers for a living? The cold hard economic reality of the real world is bad enough without shoehorning it into games too.

I don't like P2W aspects if that's what he's talking about, but then I don't think I've supported any games that are doing that. I couldn't care less about the cosmetic stuff. If I really want it, I'll shell out for it. I thought the ships and stuff being offered in the Star Citizen KS were ridiculously overpriced and probably pushing the P2W boundary. For that price, I'd imagine they take a long time to get in game, so making them purchasable like that is rather shady.

I am, however, considering buying some pants for my templar in PoE once they start selling them

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell (I think...)

I understand where he is coming from, to some degree, but the notion that we should only be "swanning around with better outfits and weapons" if we purchase the game from say.. Gamestop, or some other store with "in-game exclusives", is laughable at best. I very much prefer the kickstarter method than what is going on currently. You invest more into it becoming reality, you get more out of it.. pretty simple.

I don't get his complaint at all. In-game advertising is a cynical money grab and annoying to those who already paid for the game (obviously exempting F2P games). Having characters, planets, or other things named after the largest donors (without whom the game very likely would have never been made) isn't the same at all. I don't get his reference to socialism at all either.

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.” - Mahatma Gandhi